Monday, April 6, 2015

Two Months At Sea?




Does he tell us that he was 66 days at sea?


The open statement is when he is speaking for himself, choosing his own words.

 We listen for him to connect himself to sentences using the past tense verb with the pronoun "I" in his open statements.

 After listening to this, I wish to apologize to the journalists of whom I accused using choppy and short quotes. I don't blame you.  The tangents are in abundance.

 That he may have capsized is one thing, but being out in the sea for two months may be another.

 Questions for listeners:

1.   What topics did he connect himself, in open statements, not answers, with the formula of pronoun "I" and past tense verb?

 2.  What topics did he not connect himself, in open statements (again, not answers) with the formula of using the pronoun, "I" and the past tense verbs?

 That he is "thinking" of writing a book should come as no surprise. That he wishes to live rent free and eat food he does not have to pay for is also not a surprise.

3.   Do you find some parts of his statement credible, while finding other portions "unreliable"?

Last question:

4.  Which is longer, 2 months  or 18 minutes?

15 comments:

Skeptic's Skeptic said...

SO glad you looked at this. He seems really healthy and well-groomed, well-fed, and shows no indication of muscular atrophy as he would have if confined to such a small area and, as he claimed, conserving energy, knowing every time he moved he was burning calories he needed. He walked under his own steam as soon as they got back to dry land. He looks like he stepped out of a "no more grey" beard commercial for men. He looks like his beard and hair were recently trimmed, unless he was cleanshaven, head and all, before leaving. He had neither sunburn, nor unnaturally heavy tan. Apparently he was able to right the boat, salvage supplies for fishing, capturing water, and making pancakes (a pan, flour, and oil?), and to remain in the shade of the cabin, but this has "felt funny" to me from the start. I'd really like a thorough analysis, since I can't talk to the man myself.

Skeptic's Skeptic said...

It also seems that sailing 200 miles offshore from NC, in late January, as an admittedly inexperienced sailor, seems reckless, not to mention COLD. He was lost at sea for 2 months. How did he manage not to freeze when the boat first went over and he was thrown into the water. How did he right the boat? A sailboat is unlikely to right itself, particularly if the sails are raised when it turns over.

Anonymous said...

Fraud.

Sus said...

i do not believe he broke his shoulder. When speaking of it, he touches one shoulder, then shows a bump on the other shoulder. He constantly raises his arms above his head as he talks. He describes actions such as lifting a bucket and holding nets overboard, all actions that could not be done with a broken shoulder. He never mentions doing them with one arm. I dislocated my shoulder in a car accident and it took a couple years to raise my arm above my head again. I've heard the same thing from many others.

John Mc Gowan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
John Mc Gowan said...

Was his father in doubt of what had happened and or had knowledge of what had allegedly occurred happened ?

Was there any communication between them, before, during and after ?

Does his Dad doubt his "story"

Follow pronouns ?

On Feb. 16, Frank posted a haunting poem to Facebook dedicated “for my boy Louis” that included the lines: “life is not to be taken for granted, / no accident, experiment or joke.”

“When your son disappears and the weeks wear on, and the weather is cold and the Atlantic is stormy and wild, many horrible thoughts begin to go through your mind, and you begin to unravel,” he wrote later that day. “Your life becomes a muddled jumble of prayers and tears and doubts.”

Friends chimed in with support. “Prayers from this mother’s heart for you and your family during this terrible ordeal,” wrote one. “I saw this lone sea gull flying through the rain today and made me think of Louis finding his way home,” wrote another.

But as the weeks dragged on, Frank’s faith began to waiver. “I also pray that my son Louis Gregory Jordan will be found alive and if not, that he will continue his spiritual journey with joy and radiance,” he posted on March 2. Three days later, his thoughts were darker still: “Now it appears that Louis may be gone. God only knows when I will join him and the others, you know, the ones who have left us. The ones who played their parts on this stage of life and then exited to make room for others…”

“Nothing from or about Louis,” he wrote on March 10. “You don’t know whether to mourn or what. When they’re lost at sea, only God knows where they are.”

This is not unique to everyone and or universal.

Note he uses the distancing language "You" and "Your". And who are "They" ?

Anonymous said...

Sus,

In the beginning he DOES describe bailing hundreds of gallons of water with one arm after the first time the boat rolled. I did notice the "wrong shoulder" thing, and wonder if he had previously injured his arm and the poorly set bone a relic predating the "shipwreck".

He looks too healthy, sounds really rational, has a sense of humor, references "losing so much weight" though he looks to be solidly built, but not fat. He wears that SAME sweater in every interview I have seen. He stated that he had no beard when this began, yet the hair on his head is shorter than his beard.

There was no need to start him on small portions of food and water and work up to larger servings after his rescue, although he mentions extreme rationing. I don't know how you can ration food when you don't know how long it has to last.

At the rate of 2-3 pancakes per day (let's assume he only needed half a cup of flour per day), he'd probably have had to be traveling with around 20 pounds of flour.

Since this was just supposed to be a day or two away from the dock fishing, why was he spo well-provisioned? If he'd been living on the boat in port, he'd likely have had fewer than 5 pounds of flour on board, as it is easy to replace and 20 pounds of flour is essentially a 5 gallon pail. How much OTHER food was he carrying on his relatively small 35' craft?

Assuming he stocked a variety of canned goods and survival foods, in similar quantity, that is a LOT of food, whether he lost it or not.

When my dad lived on a boat the same size, he bought very small packages of food when in port, and complained about the fact that a pint of ice cream cost as much as half a gallon, and a quart of milk close to the price of half a gallon, but he lacked storage for more, so had to buy smaller sizes.

Is a 7 TON keel weight typical on a 35 footer? It's what he credits for the boat continuing to right itself.

He stated he lost the mast early on, later refers to a "gerry-rigged sail". It just doesn't add up.

I think the guy is well-spoken, seems pleasant, and I WANT him to be telling the truth, but find it hard to believe the idea that he lost all his books except the bible, in which he claims he "made notes" (with what implement?)

Somehow, he lost his rice (which obviously would have been good to have, and which statements have suggested would have been sufficient to supplement his diet if he'd had it)) but NOT the ingredients for pancakes, which were described as water and flour fried in oil.

That would make a lousy pancake, though better than none, but the idea that he was able to salvage a skillet and flour surprises me. A partial jug of cooking oil MIGHT float above the surface, but the other things would sink pretty fast.

Statement Analysis Blog said...

The interviewer should have challenged him at some point with,

"What do you say to those who claim you were not out at sea, lost, for 2 months?"

we look for someone to connect himself with the pronoun "I" to his assertions.

He doesn't do it, instead he goes off on tangents which, if this was investigative, would be permitted to go on and on, but with journalism, at some point, a challenge would have been useful.

John Mc Gowan said...

Hi peter,

On your point about journalist and the lack thereof (good ones). Why is it do you think they don't challenge dubious statements?. Surely even the rookie journalist's hackles rise when something just doesn't sound right.

Have you had any approach from that ilk for training. It would benefit them so much, i guess more so in investigative journalism ?

Thanks

Sus said...

I missed that. Thanks. I know from experience how difficult it is to suddenly only use one arm. Still to be able to lift it above his head without thinking about it and no discomfort only two months later is unheard of. He did it throughout the interview.

Tania Cadogan said...

if he broke his shoulder as claimed, an x ray would reveal the healed bone (the bone would be denser at the break)

he never says he was lost at sea for x amount of days, he refers to god and that god and his family know the truth.

I suspect he went off somewhere, laid low for a while and then made his appearance.

Even the Coastguard express doubts about his story.

MPA said...

At around 5.00, after a question, he pauses and tells the journalist," I'm not done, this is really good." This is very strange to me. He has a narrative he wants to get across and that he wants to control.That's utmost to him.

If he is an unexperienced sailor, how does he know that he had iodine poisoning? No way his shoulder is 100% better.Rainwater tastes like coconut milk? Trippy.

He says he was blessed to be able to read the Bible uninterrupted, couldn't he have done this anyway, given that he lived on the boat and was unemployed?

How DARE he compare this to being shellshocked, when he looks smug, cool as a cucumber, unaffected in any way, keeps raising his arms easily and is fit as a fiddle. He admits to not being a veteran.

"I'm grateful for all of your support and for your honoring my story. " Does he mean for believing my story, perhaps?

I can't wait till the Coast Guard gets to the bottom of this.

MPA said...

Maybe the book is already written and he is reciting passages?

~mj said...

Apparently he refused medical treatment??

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-man-sea-60-days-20150402-story.html

Anonymous said...

He is the worst liar I have ever listened to. He took a bath and did laundry??? Really?. I thought he said he conserved water and energy. He capsized three times and still had cans of tomatoes, blankets , buckets , nets ,Flour ,oil, etc. . Oh and whistles and flares,matches. Wow that's unbelievable.... seriously. He threw a small fish back in hopes of catching a bigger one? The iodine was making him zing,zing zing. Maybe the drugs he was doing. He offered to help clean or work upon being rescued after 66 days. He feels fine. ...ok